METRO NEWS BRIEFS: NEW YORK

Published: June 8, 1999

A sword-wielding man clad in black ninja attire who was arrested in Central Park on Sunday evening was charged yesterday with using a blowgun to shoot a metal dart into the head of a man walking through the park, the police said.

The man, Michael Tucker, 29, of Salem, Ore., was arrested near the Ramble shortly before 8 P.M. on Sunday carrying a 26-inch-long sword, a blowgun, a dart and two long knives strapped to his legs, said Officer John Giammarino, a police spokesman. Mr. Tucker was wearing a black mask and a black suit outfitted with grappling hooks and climbing claws, Officer Giammarino said.

He is accused of attacking Alexis Lafortune of Queens. Mr. Lafortune told investigators that he had thought at first that he had been stung in the temple by an insect, but then had seen a three-inch metal dart fall to the ground, a law enforcement official said. He was treated at Lenox Hill Hospital and released.

Mr. Tucker told detectives that he was studying to be a ninja and admitted shooting the dart, a law enforcement official said, but said he had been aiming for a tree. The suspect said he had been staying at a shelter in lower Manhattan. He has been convicted of weapons possession charges twice in Oregon, the police said.